My ultra-sufficient semi-recumbent tricycle project

[ddk]

...
That ride hooked me, and resulted in first going with a recumbent bike pulling a SLA powered BOB trailer, then the recumbent bike with a front hub and LiFePO4 on the rack, and now the mid-drive tadpole.

LOL I've been hooked on long bike rides since I was a lil' kid, riding up to Crystal Springs from Millbrae (SF Bay Area) on my TWO-SPEED Schwinn cruiser. My older brothers had Three-Speeds. I was jealous.
(5-speeds were just being introduced to 'merican publics about this time)

Over the years I've owned more bikes of different pedigrees than I can remember, but the silly part is my last un-powered bike that I rode daily for 20-30 miles was a step-thru aluminum-framed TWO-SPEED cruiser. I donated that bike to the local animal shelter thrift store here, because I was mainly using the e-bike for all the hills. Wished I'd kept it, as it weighed 12lb

I know I'm unable to travel the distance to your location until I can purchase another 30AH of batteries, which is possible should I sell my E-Moto trike for what I want for it. (only spammers so far)
30AH of LiPo is the weight of 2-12AH SLA's LOL and I have The Room for both on the sides of my seat. (or I could stick'em in the trailer )

Traveling south of Smith River is a hoot and I'd love to ride the Avenue of the Giants... but heading north is far more tempting to me for all the scenery... I betcha anything I'm likely one of the few bike/trike riders who keeps a strong pair of binoculars in their tool kit.

I've become much less fascinated having large-ish solar panels riding above my head because of the winds I've encountered on the open roads.
I know... I know ... it would take a pretty big airfoil to lift my fat-ash up in the air. But the panels might be Just Bigenov (not-so-evil-twin of Boris Badenov) ...when those winds slam into me and, unlike the panels on my MH, the trike panels would be constructed using much much lighter materials.

[ddk]

the sign-shop-guy I bought my coroplast from has a Sun EZ3 for sale for less than $500

-wished he'd decided to sell that before I bought the Belize Tri-Rider Comfort POS
(which is the basis of My Trike)

it's raining
I Will be making a complete fairing for My Trike for days like this... but I won't document the process here
be aware I'd already decided long ago the body will mainly be fashioned of heavy-duty shrink wrap, as what's used for shrink-wrapping boats, cars, trains and aeroplanes

[ddk]

curiosity reins high in me
i might be part cat or sumtin.
always curiously curious
and definitely bone-headed

anyway I spent most of last week and Monday charging my 5s5000ma LiPo Turnigy battery packs to 4.1 volts per cell and made many runs over a fixed distance on different days but about the same conditions (about ten miles total on a 10s3p pack (41V15Ah)
-results were almost always the same, averaging:
start w/41V
end w/38.5V
with almost a 1.5V sag under acceleration and hill-climbing (0.7-1.3V)

Today (5-23) I charged the LiPo packs to 41.5V and did the same run, same battery pack (10s3p)
start w/41.5V
end w/41V
with anywhere from 0.3-0.6 sag under acceleration and hill-climbing

that's quite a difference!
- so I'll continue to repeat this run for the next 7 days (when not raining)

I'll note my charging techniques is all wrong (per usual) as I'm using a 'bulk' power supply and just watching the pack voltage until it reaches my desired goal. (Soneil SLA bat charger for 48V@2A with a 56V measured open circuit, actually)

I checked the individual cell voltages the first few days last week but stopped bothering when everything remained in balance
Today I also checked cell voltages before and after charging with the same results; that is each cell measuring within a few millivolts of each other
...too be continued

[ddk]

5-24 one cycle only
start 41.3V (rain interruptions, high wind gusts)
end 39.7V (rain prevented me from immediately taking a measurement, other than a reading from the *very* inaccurate red meter)

...so far this is looking like I -should- re-charge the cells above 4.1V for a very significant increase in range per charge
the cells have been cycled 40 times now. (this info is posted in case I misplace my lil' notebook)

I often cycle the cells 3-4 times daily -need the exercise-

[ddk]

-had my first run-in with the police today
There's one intersection along HWY 101 with lights, where vehicles turning right on the north side of the intersection I've had the displeasure of almost being hit by, way to many times when attempting to cross in the pedestrian lane with a "walk" signal.
On the north side vehicles do have a blind spot to the crosswalk (stupidly poor road design that I'm sure "looks nice" to somebody) I might understand their lack of vision as they turn, except the "walk" signal can only be activated by a pedestrian or "me".
I've become quite skilled at hitting the the "walk" switches, doing a quick reverse, aligning the trike to make the crossing.
And waiting a moment before actually crossing the road.
Today I attempted this maneuver on the south side of the intersection in an effort to avoid the blind spot.
Hit the switch...
Almost immediately the light changed and I had my "walk" light and I started the crossing.
As I entered the pedestrian lane a 42' Motor Home decided to make a left turn, cutting me off. Two more vehicles followed this bozo (bozo followers) keeping me from advancing. After they finally cleared the intersection cars on the opposite side started turning right, again, cutting me off.
One of the cars was a police cruiser...
Which stopped after entering the intersection when he saw me. (I must be semi-invisible) (no... I'm very visible... these clowns were just following the vehicle in front of them, disregarding the walk signal, which by this time had switched to the flashing "do not walk" sign.
I tried waving him through, since he was blocking my path, but he waited for me to finish crossing.
While waiting for the next signal to continue my ride north, I noticed the cruiser pulling up in the parking lot directly behind me.
The officer disembarked, walked up to me and said something about crossing on a "do not walk" signal.
I'm thinking he wants to write me a ticket...
He obviously didn't see the sign was flashing, or more likely, doesn't understand how intersection lights work.
I explained my dilemma being cut off by the vehicles (his included), keeping quite about his inability to see the "do not walk" light was flashing, indicating it had previously been a "walk" signal before that moment in time.
he took my word (that's a first)
mumbled something about cars almost hitting pedestrians and left.
I wonder if he stops to ticket pedestrians too?
You'd think he'd ticket the vehicles instead.
He could start with himself.

today's ride (with a minor interruption and high head winds)
Start 41,5V
End 39V
forgot to watch sag, as the winds were... windy.

[TopCat]

Just thought you might like to see this vid about bike lanes and the law.

Regards
Tom

[ddk]

@ stunt werk

Thank goodness the police guy wasn't an ass to me... just wasn't as observant as one might expect an officer should be.
Perhaps he realized that he might have missed the sign change, as his ending conversation was not an admonishment and mildly pleasant.

[ddk]

observations of my LiPo battery pack
-consists of 6 each 5s 5000ma Turnigy "20c" packages (20c discharge, 2c charge
configuration: 2s3p for (nom) 36V15Ah battery pack

1-balanced-charged individual 5s packages 10-15 cycles to 4.2V per cell all cells started charge with less than 0.01V difference between sells (with one exception noted in This Thread where one 5s pack was discharged to 3.5V per cell)
2-bulk-charged 36V15Ah pack at 7% of the pack's rated "c" (2c per 5s package) using a single 48V 2A charger for SLA batteries*
(open-circuit voltage @ 56V) until the battery pack reached my desired ending voltages as displayed on my wildly inaccurate red meter (consistently accurate but displayed voltages above the actual circuit voltage by ~0.4V-0.7V)
A. 36V15Ah battery pack cycled between 38V to 41.5V for 25 cycles (37.5V to 41V measured with accurate Volt meter)
noted plateau @ 40.2V (39.7V real)
B. 36V15Ah battery pack cycled between 37.7V to 42.2V for 1 cycle (37V to 41.5V measured with accurate Volt meter)
noted plateau @ 40.2V (39.7V real)
C. 36V15Ah battery pack cycled between ~39.5V to (41.9 to 42.2V) for 10 cycles ((39.2V to 40V) to (41.2 to 41.5V) measured with accurate Volt meter)
noted plateau @ 40.2V (39.7V real)
3- balanced-charged individual 5s packages with all cells: start 3.93V with less than 0.01V difference between all cells as measured with accurate voltmeter and the charger's voltmeter display of individual cell voltages. (MAX80 2s-6s charger @7Ah)

*end of next week finds me replacing the Soneil charger (rated @ 1A measured 2.2A) with a "48V 7.3 AMP 350W Max Power Supply by AGT" (copied from amazon description LOL) which should increase the "C" charge rate to just 20% of the battery pack's rated "C"


I can be dreadfully boring when I wanna be

[Rassy]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[SamTexas]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Please, don't wake me up. I'm enjoying one of my longest sleep.

[ddk]

since I'm getting closer to an ending, I took the opportunity to ride north today in an effort to see how many mountains I could climb... which was "2"
This time I grabbed my camera!
The second mountain was too much for either the front hub motor or the sla batteries.
I forgot my ir temp reader so I'm gonna guess it was the sla batteries, because when I switched to the LiPo' battery pack the motor started working again.

holy cow what sag are we getting?

bat fart.jpg (34.99 KiB) Viewed 296 times

I'm guessing the lead batteries were sagging too much, intermittently kicking in the LVC
Oh well... it's mainly downhill from here to back there.

coasting on the coast

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As I coasted down the coastline I took pictures of the coast (gotta love the english language sometimes)

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don't look so rainbow-ee to me

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looking the opposite way

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4% grade not a biggie but...

1 mile to bat fart..jpg (30.75 KiB) Viewed 296 times

The trailer full of lead is, as I'd previously noted, too much for the lil' Mity Might motor. That extra 100# of weight, it's just a bit more than I should carry

[ddk]

dunno about the BIG RED TARGET I have on my back...
apparently people ARE mistaking it as a 'real' target
...almost t-boned a couple of days ago.
I dumped the trike. Old tricks are hard to forget, and, was quite automatic on my part.
Results would have been better if I was, uhm, about 40 years younger, however.

So it's either body armor and/or a BIG XENON STROBE LIGHT to make sure drivers both see me and can judge how fast I'm going (about 12-15MPH is all) (I don't like the thought of sweating in body armor btw)

results:
-One battered, scratched and bruised body
-Undamaged trike, needing adjustments only
-DD doing the proper breakaway, as designed (guessed)
-LiPo's protected both in their cage and within their strawberry-kiwi packaging (actually I much prefer the peach-mango-green tea)

Sold the EMoto only to find out I have to wait for HK to re-stock their USA warehouse with 5s-5000ma batteries. Something about being unable to air-ship even one battery.
...And I tried to order 12 LOL.

Already have a supply of crystal lite 'packaging' awaiting their filling.

[ddk]

welp-the magic smoke was released from the soniel 48V charger last week so I ordered one of these things through amazon.
-expecting it tomorrow.

Since I hadn't added my 'new' connectors to the bat box I took 4 hours today to do just that.
The whole process involved a redo of the battery cage and a whole new wiring harness, which was a gud thing as the wiring was a complete mess, as opposed to the mess it is now.

naked and hungry for a controller

bat cage redo 1.jpg (33.51 KiB) Viewed 218 times

grooming

bat cage redo 2.jpg (33.68 KiB) Viewed 218 times

brand new lid work

bat cage reso new lid.jpg (27.42 KiB) Viewed 218 times

wutz under da lid

bat cage redo mess o wires.jpg (23.9 KiB) Viewed 218 times

outside the bat cage

bat box redo mess o wires.jpg (36.54 KiB) Viewed 218 times

more of the insides of the bat box

bat box redo mess o wires2.jpg (35.62 KiB) Viewed 218 times

the only view i haz

bat box redo what I see.jpg (64.89 KiB) Viewed 218 times

The funny looking connector is what I've chosen to use for the functions of battery packs discharge and charge. Very simple to use, handles lots of amps and is simple to plug/unplug

downsides... 'lil pricey but doesn't incur the cost of an anderson crimper (upside is I really don't like andersons because they disconnect way too easily.

[amberwolf]

(upside is I really don't like andersons because they disconnect way too easily.

You must not be using the bigger Andersons--PP75 and SB50 definitely don't disconnect easily. You can find these used on various powerchair systems, on batteires, chargers, and battery-controller plugs most commonly.

Plus there are two different kinds of contacts available for even the smaller ones--the common ones have a lower pull-force and so disconnect easily, but there are higher-pull-force contacts available that won't just come loose as easily.

[ddk]

[....

Plus there are two different kinds of contacts available for even the smaller ones--the common ones have a lower pull-force and so disconnect easily, but there are higher-pull-force contacts available that won't just come loose as easily.

my only experience with the small Andersons are the ones installed on the Ampedbike mighty mite kit and one manufactured battery pack.
The only other Anderson connectors I've used are found on certain remote broadcasting trucks and my formerly-owned winch, neither of which you should use on an ebike

That said I spent 30 dollars for enough speakon connectors for my three battery packs and their respective cabling, which is all I'm ever likely to make in my lifetime... less expensive than one Anderson crimping tool -although I prefer crimped connections over terminal connections. -just like crimp connections that work fine when properly done using the right tool and I hate hand-forming crimps because they never work as good as the crimp done with the right tool.
Terminal connections done properly work fine for the power levels I'm using.
SpeakON connectors use a screw termination not unlike a Hubble power connector. They're about the size of an XLR microphone connector.

Soldered connections are, in my opinion (and my experience) the least reliable power connection but since I didn't want to change the HK battery bullets- hence the soldered bullet connectors (HK batteries, chargers and such all have bullets-- but you knew that!)
-if you look closely you might notice where I had to add terminal connections to a battery to repair it's failed solder connection. Had a couple of those failures on R/C batteries so far.
I'm thinking of terminating all the batteries in all my packs in terminal blocks, but only time will tell (and a few more failed solder joints)

[ddk]

used the new power supply today...
I should'a put an ammeter inline but instead after verifying connections I plugged it into the battery pack.
I'd calculated the pack would be recharged in 30 minutes to 41.5V.
...20 minutes later the pack was @ 42V
damn good thing I looked over at that time.

The small-ish literature (online ad is all- the power supply came with nada) claimed this power supply to be adjustable from about 41.5V o 50V. (was only interested in the "low" setting)
the actual adjustment range is between 43.2V to 51.5V. Gonna add a couple of external diodes to this contraption to drop the max V a bit... just need a few 10A diodes

[ddk]

discharged battery pack (36V@15Ah) to 39.0 volts. put on charge (~43.2V@9.5A) and 15 minutes later the battery is resting at 41V
-time to buy a temp probe!

edit_ nope... manually feeling the batteries indicates no temp rise to speak of.
I finally have an e-grin

[ddk]

today I ordered the additional 60Ah of batteries
well, 30Ah@35V

...this should increase my range a tad.

lessee- 45Ah for the mighty mite
5Ah for the MY1018 I'll be carrying 2KW of battery

[ddk]

welp
something went weirdo on the front fork all of a sudden

I've put over 1000m on the trike without mishap, other than purposeful mishap (dumping the trike to stop much faster than it can)
But just a few minutes ago, I took off like the proverbial bat outta hell WOT/maximum pedal power and as soon as I reached 25mph the trike veered to the left and tipped over.
... and I have no idea why.
I've done that maneuver lots of times without a problem.

I'm now covered in road rash, (legs and elbow where my jacket ripped open) ripped gloves (but protected hands) and a ruined leather jacket (protected upper body except said elbow)
The trike survived, (kinda) except the front rim needs truing, the fork itself is a little wacky but doesn't appear to be damaged in any way and the battery housing needs repair (but the batteries remained well protected)
and the pain is just starting...
and I'll need a new jacket

[ddk]

...double the posts for double the fun
thinking about it, I always check the axle nuts/bearing adjustments but I've been forgetful of checking the stem tightness.
A really stupid lax on my part, having some 25 pounds of weight hanging on the handlebars can loosen the stem pretty easily.

[Rassy]

Ouch.

Hope you heal quickly without any other problems.

And I was thinking you were about ready for a trip 50 miles North.

[ddk]

Ouch.

Hope you heal quickly without any other problems.

And I was thinking you were about ready for a trip 50 miles North.

hopefully I'll be healed about the same time I get the batteries balanced enough to bulk-charge'em

one balanced-battery charger = lot's a waiting (5-10 cycles x 12 batteries)

-or maybe more, since I just received an announcement my middle-son decided to visit out here and is already on the road.
This may become additionally interesting.

[ddk]

...and I just got my batteries

time to cycle (batteries, that is)

I'm just gonna heal a couple mo' days before "I" cycle

[ddk]

quick first impressions on the "Zippy 5S 5000ma 15C" (couldn't wait any longer for the Turnigy 20C batteries)

Compared to the Turnigy 5s 5000ma 20C batteries I already own, these Zippy batteries:

-cost a couple of dollars more per battery . i.e you get less for more
-weigh less
-smaller
-did I mention they were lighter
-non-silicon wires on the balance ports (hmmmm)

-Zippy the packaging consists of the thin Styrofoam wrap covered with bubble wrap per battery.
-Turnigy is packaged in an individual box wrapped in anti-static bubble wrap and the thin Styrofoam

all indications that indeed, I just paid more for less.

[ddk]

all day long and 4 batteries have been cycled -once-